The Independent Blogger

Sunday, April 27, 2014

False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.

Let him that would move the world first move himself.

Beware the barrenness of a busy life.

My advice to you is get married: if you find a good wife you’ll be happy; if not, you’ll become a philosopher.

Wisdom begins in wonder.

He is a man of courage who does not run away, but remains at his post and fights against the enemy.

It is not living that matters, but living rightly.

I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live.

The unexamined life is not worth living.

If a man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it.

One who is injured ought not to return the injury, for on no account can it be right to do an injustice; and it is not right to return an injury, or to do evil to any man, however much we have suffered from him.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Pawtuckaway State Park in Nottingham, NH features a popular summer camping spot. It is also is home to three of the most southern "mountain peaks." The quotes are there because at 1200 feet north mountain, the tallest of the three really doesn't qualify as a 'mountain,' but it's not a bad hiking hill. Along with South Mountain, Middle Mountain, and Round Pond, it's a nice spot particularly at off peak times.

Below is a pic of a turtle sunning himself at round pond. There is also rocking climbing/rock climbing training at Pawtuckaway, and not far from this spot.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Don't know how unusual this is, but both a Hairy and a Downy Woodpecker stopped at my bird feeder the other day at the same time. The larger Hairy Woodpecker is on the right, and the smaller Downy is on the left. They shared the feeder for a decent length of time, enough time for me to snap the pic below.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

A couple months ago Rambling Web noted that Porsche was breaking the mold for hybrid cars by developing a true hybrid super car -
Porsche 918 Spyder Hybrid Blows Up Stereotypes. Yet the major question was whether the 918 Spyder would sell.

Well Tesla Motors, taking a different tact, is showing the an upscale electric car can sell quite well. According to 'Wall Streets Cheat Sheet,' Tesla's Model S is actually outselling BMW and Mercedes the competing cars in its class.

This is great news for the future of electric and hybrid cars. It shows that as the quality of these cars increases that demand will likely increase too. As 'Wall Streets Cheat Sheet' notes the success of the Model S opens the door for a more affordable model in the future.

While Tesla faced huge criticisms about the Model S being too expensive, which would result in a stagnancy of demand, it appears the concerns were unfounded, and that the demand is leading the segment. Given the company’s limitations as a start-up with a product that has yet to become mainstream, these figures are especially impressive.

Moreover, the Model S was never meant to be an affordable, mass market car; the company was never aiming to build the next GM Chevy (NYSE:GM) Volt or Nissan Leaf. The Model S was designed from the ground up as a luxury car, meant to compete with the likes of the 7 Series and A8.

The company’s business model suggests that as electric cars become more accepted, and concerns over range anxiety and other problems subside, the high cost of electric car technology will slope downward. And when that happens, Tesla will be ready and waiting with an entry-level, ballpark $30,000 model to market to the masses.

Monday, May 6, 2013

...Such is the home for two of the newest residents of the Queen City - a pair of baby American bald eagles that hatched early last month and are being raised in a nest along the Merrimack River.

The eaglets are the first to be born in Manchester in decades and represent the continuing success of the restoration of the bald eagle, said Christian Martin, a raptor biologist with the New Hampshire Audubon Society.

Martin brought a New Hampshire Union Leader reporter and photographer to a viewing area of the nest with the understanding it would not be pinpointed. Seclusion is needed to prevent distractions and human disturbances to the adults who are tending the eaglets, he said.

The nest is located about 90 feet up a white pine tree. During the visit Friday, one adult sat on the nest and glared at the human visitors, who spied the birds with binoculars and telephoto lenses about 500 feet from the nest.

Most of the time, the gray fuzz of the eaglets lay at the bottom of the nest, resembling little more than an accumulation of dust. But occasionally, a wing would poke out awkwardly. At other times, a long neck, more fitting for an ostrich, would stretch up, a beak at its crown.

"They look like fuzzy aliens," said Peter Gray, a Bedford resident and Audubon volunteer who first observed and photographed the eaglets on April 20.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

An upcoming election to watch started with an upset in the Republican Primary last night. Massachusetts Senate seat special election Republican candidate is Gabriel Gomez. He will face off against long time Democrat Congressman Ed Markey.

Massachusetts voters will fill Secretary of State John Kerry’s Senate seat on June 25. The choices couldn’t be more of a contrast. Democrat Ed Markey is a 66-year-old liberal who was first elected to Congress in 1976, when eight-track tapes were the rage. Republican Gabriel Gomez, is a 47-year-old with an MBA from Harvard, who is the son of Columbian immigrants and a former Navy SEAL. He raised $1.2 million in yesterday’s GOP primary, which enabled him to buy TV ads that led to an upset 51 percent to 36 percent victory over Michael Sullivan, a conservative former district attorney.

Massachusetts is a deeply blue state but surprises can happen in elections that don’t feature presidential levels of voter turnout. Four of the last six governors have been Republicans, and in 2010 Scott Brown shook the political world with his upset special-election victory. He went on to lose his reelection bid in 2012, as Barack Obama swept the state.